Last week I wrote about how the three main writers on Glee have three distinct styles and likewise three noticeably different levels of quality in their respective scripts. I talked mostly about the good/bad contrast between Ryan Murphy and Brad Falchuk, but tonight it was all about Ian Brennan's Glee Train to Crazy Town. Brennan's episodes are pure left-field insanity, the kind of wild misconception that makes musicals like The 5000 Fingers of Dr. T. He isn't subtle and it's mostly out of courtesy that his plot points actually get referenced in future episodes. Still, Brennan's episodes are entertaining, even if they are certifiable. So, sure, why the hell not? Let's have an entire episode ostensibly about how stripper hair is a metaphor for all of life's petty distractions.

In fact, "distraction" was the Sesame Street style word of the day in "Hairography". So many characters said it so many times and with absolutely no nuance in the delivery that it would have only been a scoche more blunt for Ian Brennan himself to walk on screen carrying a banner that read "WE'RE TALKING ABOUT THE MOTIF NOW!"

So, let's count our heavily alluded to distractions.

1. Quinn considers Puck for a father-figure role, so she distracts Finn with Rachel.
2. Terri (presumably because she is a cartoon lost in a live action show) thinks Will is getting suspicious of her fake pregnancy, so she distracts him with a replica of his high school car.
3. The kids at the token ghetto school distract from their so-so performance abilities with excessive hair twirling.
4. Sue distracts Will from her real machinations by snooping around not-so-subtly while the glee club practices.
5. Ian Brennan distracts from his obvious insanity by drawing a load of lucky song picks.

Because every time Terri and especially her caricature of a sister are on Glee the show takes a nosedive in quality that rivals Cougar Town, I don't even think it's worth writing about them anymore. They're bad characters who exist to create conflict in a forgone conclusion, so I'm happy to ignore them. The only good they contributed to this episode was providing Quinn and Puck a chance to have that awesome babysitting scene and my favorite musical number from an episode full of good songs. Dianne Agron's rendition of "Papa, Don't Preach" was impressive. I tend to like the more stripped-down numbers on Glee over the big, choreographed productions.

I can't really say that the plot actually moved forward in Hairography. Every supposed development really just reset to the status quo by the end, so does it even matter that the ever more tangled web of love among the students got jostled or that Quinn considered keeping her baby for all of ten minutes? I can appreciate that Rachel and Kurt now connect over their common unrequited love for Finn, but I never really bought that Kurt had such negative feelings for Rachel in the first place. Ultimately, I think it's better than Ian Brennan didn't advance the story. If he had it his way, the glee club would be slaying purple dragons by now.

Best Moment: The glee kids joining the deaf choir in "Imagine" was impressive if only for how frequently it changed in tone. It started kind of embarrassing, then became offensive, then hokey, then interesting, then pretty cool.

Favorite Song: As previously mentioned, "Papa, Don't Preach". When a song happens to be both perfect for the person singing it and have lyrical relevance to the character, it's the best the show ever gets. I do wish that Finn and Rachel had sung more of "You're The One That I Want". They were doing a good job.

Episode Rating: 3.9/5- I won't give it a solid 4 because Brennan's script was messy madness, but I enjoyed "Hairography" more than the title made me believe I would. The songs were great, the dedication to outlandish costumes was admirable and no permanent structural damage was done.